SAFE GC Coalition: COVID Study on Patients with Mental Illness

According to a new research study conducted by the University of Oxford, one in eight people who have recovered from COVID-19 are diagnosed with their first psychiatric or neurological illness within six months of testing positive for the virus. Researchers who surveyed 236,379 coronavirus survivors found that the numbers rose to one in three when people with a previous history of psychiatric or neurological illnesses were included. Additionally, the study found that one in nine patients also were diagnosed with conditions such as depression or stroke despite not having gone to a hospital when they were infected.

The study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, used electronic health records to evaluate hospitalized and non-hospitalized US patients with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis who recovered. The subjects were compared with a group diagnosed with influenza, and another diagnosed with respiratory tract infections between Jan. 20 and Dec. 13, 2020. Their analysis accounted for factors such as age, race, gender, socioeconomic status and any underlying physical and mental conditions.

According to the results, the likelihood of a COVID-19 survivor developing a psychiatric or neurological illness within six months was 33.6 percent; almost 13 percent of the survivors did, in fact, receive a diagnosis in that time frame, the study found. The researchers also discovered that most diagnoses were more common after bouts with the coronavirus than after the flu or other respiratory infections — including stroke, intracranial bleeding, dementia and psychotic disorders. Overall, COVID-19 was linked to increased risk of these diagnoses, but the incidence was greater among those who required hospital treatment, and significantly so among patients who developed brain disease.

Although the study does not prove that COVID-19 is directly behind the psychiatric and neurological conditions, research suggests the virus can have an impact on the brain and the central nervous system and results will help researchers decide which neurological and psychiatric complications required further careful study.

To learn more about the SAFE Glen Cove Coalition please follow us on www.facebook.com/safeglencovecoalition or visit SAFE’s website to learn more about the COVID-19 Epidemic and its correlation to increased mental illness, alcohol and substance use at www.safeglencove.org.